Tag: Foreign Film Review
After Love (L’Économie du couple) | Review
Tight on Space: Inside Lafosse's Claustrophobic Family Drama
Festival darling Joachim Lafosse returns with his seventh feature, After Love, a relatable but difficult film solidly...
Amnesia | Review
Never Forget: Schroeder Quietly Examines Cultural Identity in Isolation
In an intriguingly varied career, which was kick started during the early days of the Nouvelle...
From the Land of the Moon | Review
The Spa of Loneliness: Garcia’s Clunky Wartime Romance
Though she’s perhaps still best known as a prolific actress, Nicole Garcia has quietly built an impressive...
Kekszakallu | Review
A Man’s World: Solnicki Scores with Experimental Exercise in Ennui and Agency
Standing as the most enigmatic art-house debut to achieve limited theatrical release stateside,...
Footnotes | Review
The Tread Shoes: Calori and Testut Hoof through Musical Homage
Directors Paul Calori and Kostia Testut face something of an uphill battle with their directorial...
The Untamed | Review
The Pleasure Principle: Escalante Makes a Monster Mash with Distinctive Social Drama
The shadow of Andrzej Zulawski’s infamous erotic creature feature/divorce melodrama Possession (1981) looms...
The Midwife | Review
Midwife Crisis: Provost Squanders Fine Cast in Trite Melodrama
The essence of French director Martin Provost’s latest film The Midwife is supposed to revolve around...
Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966) | Review
The Little Girl Who Kills Down the Lane: Bava’s Boffo Ghost Story Heavy on Atmosphere, Light on Narrative
Of all the famed giallo masters, Mario...
Muchachas de Uniforme (1951) | Outfest 2017 LGBT Film Festival Review
Girls Interrupted: Crevenna’s Lost Classic Resurrected in all its Melodramatic Glory
Although remakes have largely become the bane of the seventh art, how certain properties...
False Confessions | Review
Fair is False and False is Fair: Bondy’s Final Conquest Collapses Theatrical and Cinematic Convention
Cinematic adaptations of 18th century French novelist and playwright Marivaux...
Paulina | Review
She’s Having a Baby: Mitre Explores the Yoke of Victimhood in Uncomfortable Drama
Argentina’s Santiago Mitre scores his first international success with his third feature,...
Spotlight on a Murderer | Blu-ray Review
An influential but often overlooked originator of French surrealism would be genre stalwart Georges Franju, still best remembered for his 1960 masterpiece, Eyes without...
Moka | Review
The Hand that Robs the Cradle: Mermoud Utilizes Devos for Sweet Vengeance
Revenge is a dish best served cold and a little neurotic, at least...
Past Life | Review
Music Makes You Lose Control: Nesher Explores Skeletons in the Closet with Period Drama
Having contributed to the rise of Israeli cinema since the late...
L’Amant double | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun: Ozon Hearkens Back to Enfant Terrible Days with Erotic Skin Flick
The forgotten art of the campy erotic thriller...
Rodin | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Wails of Auguste: Doillon Presents Shapeless Biopic on the Famed French Sculptor
Unfortunately, French auteur Jacques Doillon’s high profile remounting of French sculptor Auguste...
The Day After | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Three Women: Sang-soo Goes for Slight(ly) Sober in Black and White Mix-up
South Korea’s Hong Sangsoo surpasses his own prolific, breakneck speed with a whopping...
Golden Years | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
My Baby Shot Me Down: Techine’s Tedious Period Piece a Drained Chronicle
While perennial French auteur Andre Techine delivered one of his most vibrant narratives...
The Killing of a Sacred Deer | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Dear Hunter: Lanthimos Flatlines with Terse Revenge Fantasy
There’s no arguing the unique capabilities of Greek Weird Wave alum Yorgos Lanthimos, who broke out...
Happy End | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
The Sunshine of Their Love: Haneke Dishes Up Black Comedy with a Dollop of Self-Loathing
Happy families are all the same in a Michael Haneke...
A Ciambra | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
Life of Pio: Carpignano Shows Them Who is Boss
With hand gestures that you’d typically associate to argumentative Italians and a Calabrian backdrop that one would...
Let the Sunshine In | 2017 Cannes Film Festival Review
A Tall Dark Stranger: Denis and Binoche are Remarkable Bedfellows in Light Comedy
Claire Denis comes as close as she ever will to romantic comedy...
Everybody’s Life | 2017 COLCOA French Film Festival Review
Au Beaune Pain: Lelouch Continues with Frivolous Comedy Spackle
Somewhere along the way Palme d'Or and Oscar winning auteur Claude Lelouch (1966’s A Man and...
Ice Mother |2017 Tribeca Film Festival Review
All That Weather Allows: Slama Formulates Empathetic Character Drama from Microwaved Melodrama
Taking a page from a formula established by Douglas Sirk’s classic soapy melodrama...
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki | Review
On a Black and White Day You Can See Forever: Kuosmanen Pleasantly Upends Expectations with Debut
Dressed up as a historical biopic of Finnish boxer...
Slack Bay | Review
Bay of Pigs: Dumont Sails Away into Macabre Absurdity
Stated best within the immortal and oft referenced introduction to Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, “Happy families are...
The Student | Review
Class Act: Serebrennikov Illustrates the Perils of Fundamentalism
Kirill Serebrennikov, one of several rising auteurs from Russia’s troubling political regime, reaches his widest platform yet...
Sweet Country | Review
Once Upon a Time in Australia: Thornton’s Western-inspired Saga of Violent Racial Discrimination
Racial tensions in Australian society are given historic treatment in the outback-Western...
Their Finest | Review
A Screen of Their Own: Scherfig Concocts Winning WWII Romantic Comedy
Danish director Lone Scherfig, best known for her Dogme 95 breakout Italian for Beginners...
Truman | Review
The Dog Stops Here: Gay’s Subtle Drama Grapples with Saying Goodbye
Although it offers nothing thematically new on the clichéd scenario of the disease film,...
Cezanne et Moi | Review
Their Brilliant Careers: Thompson’s Flavorless Exploration of Famed Friendship
Those hoping for an invigorating comeback from Daniele Thompson following her egregiously ludicrous It Happened in...
The Zookeeper’s Wife | Review
My Antonina: Chastain Saves the Day in Glossy Holocaust Drama
As a byproduct of commodifying historical based cinema, we’ve become numb and desensitized to depictions...
I, Olga Hepnarova | Review
Gray is the Cruelest Color: Kazda and Weinreb Resurrect a Murderess
Unlike the hopeful social realism angle of the comparably titled Palme d’Or winning I,...
Metamorphoses | Review
Europa, Europa: Honore Eloquently Updates Ovid for Masterful, Playful Adaptation
There really isn’t a modern counterpart (even if Francois Ozon might come close) for the...
After the Storm | Review
Together Again: Koreeda Unveils another Bittersweet Carefully Constructed Familial Melodrama
For the past decade or so, Japanese auteur has conquered the market on sharply observed...
3 films by Claude Chabrol | Blu-ray Review
Cohen Media Group resurrected five late period titles from French New Wave auteur Claude Chabrol in September, 2016. The one week engagement featured lesser...
Suntan | Review
Death in Greece: Papadimitropoulos Examines a Doctor and His Devils with Engrossing Character Portrait
An uncomfortable but prolific subset of the psychological drama would...
The Ottoman Lieutenant | Review
The Turkish Lieutenant’s Woman: Ruben Stumbles on Tedious War Time Romance
At one point, director Joseph Ruben was the go-to guy for glossy B-grade...
The Sense of an Ending | Review
Man of Letters: Batra Crafts Low-Key Adaptation with Handsome Ensemble
“The wine of youth does not always clear with advancing years; sometimes it grows turbid,”...
Brimstone | Review
The Love of a Preacher Man: Koolhoven’s Pseudo-Feminist Western an Ambitiously Grotesque Affront
Unveiling the most expensive Dutch film production since Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book...
Joaquim | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Once Upon a Time Tiradentes: Gomes Delivers Exceptional, Unique Biopic on Brazil’s Crusader of Enlightenment
Brazilian director Marcelo Gomes tackles eighteenth century revolutionary Joachim Jose...
On the Beach at Night Alone | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Qualified for Love: Sangsoo Showcases Minhee in Latest Perambulation on Soju Soaked Saudade
Prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo consistently unveils mannered films with marked...
Return to Montauk | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
The Past is Present: Schlondorff Explores Romantic Regrets in Mismated Adaptation
A key figure in the New German Wave from the mid-60s through the 1970’s,...
Land of Mine | Review
Enemy Mine: Zandvliet Explores the Casualties of War
Martin Zandvliet leaves behind the world of theater for his third feature, Land of Mine, a based...
A Fantastic Woman | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
A Time to Love and a Time to Die: Lelio’s Fantastic Portrait of Pain and Perseverance
“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” murmurs the...
Spoor | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
Animal Love: Holland Blunders with Hysterical Murder Mystery
What reveals itself to be an interesting inversion on parable of the boy who cried wolf, Polish...
On Body and Soul | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
That Obscure Object: Enyedi Mounts Moving, Lyrical Return with Inspired Portrait of Desire
For her first film in nearly twenty years, Hungarian auteur Ildiko Enyedi returns with...
Requiem for Mrs. J | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
The Day the Music Died: Vuletic Courts Comedy of Frustration with Shades of Thanatos
If anyone comes close to conjuring comedy from the Kafkaesque, it’s...
Barrage | 2017 Berlin International Film Festival Review
You’ll Like My Mother: Schroeder Stages Conflicted, Femme Centric Triplicate of Intergenerational Conflict
As the title succinctly suggests, Luxembourg’s Laura Schroeder navigates the trenchant, inescapable...
The Lure | Review
They Could Go on Singing: Smoczynska’s Debut a Fairy Tale Grim
Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska crafts a memorable directorial debut with The Lure, a 1980s...
